Privacy blamed for delay in social housing data amid growing demand

December 29, 2020
Brisbane Times

Queensland's housing minister says the need for enhanced privacy measures was the reason an annual update of social housing figures was published months later than usual, and two days before Christmas.   

The number of people on Queensland's housing register waiting list, published on the state government's open data portal last week and showing a 24 per cent increase on the same time in 2019, has been labelled a "crisis" by Greens MP Amy MacMahon.

About 3000 of the newly reported applications to the housing register were made since January, as people struggled financially amid COVID-19.


As of June 30, 47,036 people were on the waiting list from 25,853 applications, the data shows. This was an increase of about 24 per cent on the 2019 snapshot, itself a jump of 20 per cent on the previous year.

More than 20,000 of these people were single, with 6799 of those parents to one or more children. Analysis by Brisbane Times suggests about 16,100 of those on the register were children, an increase of almost 1000 since the previous figures.



About 3000 of the newly reported applications to the register were made since January alone, as people across the state were hit hard by the economic impact of COVID-19.

The new data expands on a partial update from then-housing minister Mick de Brenni in July, which provided only the number of applications and not the number of people or demographic breakdown associated with each.

Ms MacMahon, South Brisbane's newly elected MP, had filed a "right to information" request for the data, which is usually published earlier in the year.

A response from the Housing Department, seen by Brisbane Times, has now revealed an increase since September of almost 1300 "very high need" applications, taking the number to 17,541.

Such cases, which involve people who are either homeless or have multiple complex factors affecting their ability to hold stable housing, have now ballooned by 77 per cent in 16 months.

Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch said the decision by the Housing and Communities Department director-general to release the latest data came on the back of "substantial work" to safeguard the privacy of those within it, after a recommendation by the Office of the Information Commissioner.



The Greens, along with the community and housing service sector, have been calling for a boost to social housing construction to help meet the growing need, while also creating jobs and economic activity amid the recovery from the pandemic.

Ms Enoch said the number of applicants on the register represented 0.5 per cent of Queensland's total population, with the $1.6 billion housing construction jobs program set to deliver 5500 social and affordable homes by 2027.

Community groups have warned of a spike in demand for their services as record tight rental markets grip the state.   

Data also published by the Housing Department shows that during the 2019-20 financial year, 2197 households were helped by the National Rental Affordability Scheme, which is scheduled to end in 2026.

We need a boost in people not expecting the government to look after the every need from cradle-to-grave

aquascoot wrote on Dec 30^th, 2020 at 11:23am:


Exactly.

It seems the terminally lazy expect the workers to pay their way for them.

If they got a job, perhaps our excessive income tax could be reduced to actually reward those who work.

Im sick of forking out 30% of my income to support terminally lazy bludgers.

Valkie wrote on Dec 30^th, 2020 at 12:37pm:


Seriously? You know most ppl in govt housing are pensioners? In fact the fastest growing demographic of homeless ppl are older?

Spot

As Whiteknight mentioned ...

Here in Victoria, Dan the man is doing great work:

Victoria will pump $5.3 billion into building more than 12,000 homes within four years to tackle homelessness and create construction jobs in the biggest single spend on social housing in the state’s history.